Dunkirk

[That's not a movie image. Amazon doesn't have one, as I type.
I'll fix it
someday.]

So anyway: Pun Son and I went down to Newington to check out this critical
favorite. I was … not that impressed.

The story (as you've probably heard) is Christopher Nolan's take on the
miraculous extraction of hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from the
French beaches off Dunkirk. His method is to follow three stories: a
not-particularly-brave British soldier trying to get off the beach; a
very brave British civilian taking his boat across the channel; an
equally brave RAF fighter pilot doing his best to shoot down German
planes bombing and strafing the good guys.

There is some timeline trickery: for example, we see scenes of a sinking boat in the channel
before we see how its hapless passengers got on board. But other than
that Nolanesque touch, it's a straightforward story of bravery and cowardice in the face
of horror.

But… well maybe it was because we saw it in an RPX theater, but the
bass was boosted up so high that I had difficulties at times hearing the
dialog. (The thick Brit accents might have been a factor too.) And—not
to sound racist or anything—all those British soldiers kind of look
alike. Which ones are we supposed to keep track of, again?

And, all
in all, there's not a lot of reason to get involved with any of
these characters, with the exception of the determined civilian boat
captain.

I kept looking at the actor playing one of the British officers—I've
seen him before, where? Ah,
IMDB
has the answer: he
played Jarvis in the late lamented TV show, Agent Carter. He's OK here too.

URLs du Jour

22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
and do not crush the needy in court,23 for the Lord will take up their case
and will exact life for life.

I am not sure how that divine retribution worked out in practice. And how much
needy-crushing could there have been in ancient Israel? I guess
there was enough for the Proverbialist to demand it cease.

In June, the film rating non-profit Common Sense Media (CSM) announced it would develop a system to rate films on the basis of whether or not they "defy gender stereotypes" and offer "progressive depictions of gender roles."

… and Chelsea gave this effort a thumbs up. Silly Chelsea!

OK, I've looked at the Common Sense Media
website and even a
right-wing troglodyte like me is having a difficult time getting mad
at it.

Yes, they analyze films according to their relentlessly
Progressive creed. For example, Dunkirk, probably the most
critic-praised movie in the current theatrical crop, gets a measly
three stars out of five. Why? Because gender stereotypes were not sufficiently
defied?

But they do like some good movies.

■ We noted yesterday about the stupid invocation of "blood and soil"
by ostensible libertarians. Jay Nordlinger of NR works a
similar theme, musing on recent appearances of "America First",
"enemies of the people", and more:
‘Cosmopolitan’
and Other ‘Old-Person Slurs’.

Now we get to “cosmopolitan.” That one, too, has long been
stigmatized: It was deployed in smelly, demeaning ways. “Rootless
cosmopolitan” was a popular Stalinist phrase. Woe to you if you were
tagged with it.

The New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles announced on Tuesday
that inspection stickers will be moving from just below the rearview
mirror, to the lower driver's side of the windshield.

Yeah. Right next to the dump sticker. So what's the LFOD angle?

Some, in the 'Live Free or Die' spirit of New Hampshire, suggested
that it was time for inspection stickers to stop being a
requirement.

There are
eleven
states that don't require safety or emissions inspections. (NH
requires both, annually.) I wonder if there's any correlation
between safety inspections and actual safety, i.e., fatality
rates? That would be a
pretty easy thing to research.

Laws also were a popular suggestion, with 73 percent of people
saying if the driver could be pulled over for a rear seat belt
infraction, they would wear the belts more often. And 60 percent
said if they knew there was a law, they would change their habits.
For reference, there are front seat belt laws in Washington, D.C.,
and 49 of 50 states (New Hampshire doesn't require belts. We guess
that wouldn't fit with the state's "Live Free or Die" motto). For
rear seat belts, there are laws in only 29 states and D.C.

For all our law-free recklessness, NH isn't
that dangerous a place to drive according
to
this
list. (Safest is … Massachusetts?! Their methodology may be
suspect.)

It’s a ‘live free or die’ state, a state that values independence
and entrepreneurs,” said CCA Global President Howard Brodsky.
“People are looking for scale and resources that they can’t get
elsewhere, but don’t want to give up their identity.”

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Unquoted opinions expressed herein are solely those of the
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